Banged-up Jets limping toward game vs. Browns with Breece Hall and Adonai Mitchell still sidelined

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets running back Breece Hall and wide receiver Adonai Mitchell remain sidelined with injuries and could miss the game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

Coach Aaron Glenn said Wednesday that Hall, Mitchell, left guard Dylan Parham and linebacker Kiko Mauigoa will continue to be evaluated on a weekly basis. All four missed New York's loss at Chicago last Sunday.

Hall has a quadriceps injury that he suffered early in the fourth quarter of New York’s 31-24 loss at Detroit two weeks ago when he went down while being forced out of bounds after running for no gain.

Mitchell has missed the Jets' past two games after injuring a finger in practice. Glenn has previously said the finger wasn't broken, but the nature of Mitchell's injury hasn't been disclosed.

Parham hurt a knee in the third quarter against Detroit and hasn't practiced since. Jordan Meredith has replaced him.

Without those three, along with tight end Mason Taylor (thumb) and wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (ankle), the Jets' offense struggled mightily against the Bears. Geno Smith was just 8 of 15 for 119 yards — 58 of those coming on a touchdown pass to Isaiah Williams — and the Jets were outgained by the Bears in total yards: 492 to 157. New York had just 32 plays on offense, compared to 89 for Chicago. Braelon Allen, who replaced Hall, had 59 yards on 14 carries.

“Turn the page, execution for four quarters,” Smith said of the offense's mindset. “That's really what it's all about, us executing as a group and as a unit."

The Jets could get Taylor back this week and wide receiver Tim Patrick, on injured reserve with a groin injury since the season started, had his 21-day practice window started. New York had only a walkthrough Wednesday, but Glenn said Taylor would practice. Same for edge rusher Kingsley Enagbare, who missed last week with with a knee injury.

Cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. is in the concussion protocol, so the team will monitor his progress through the week.

The Jets are on a three-game skid with a much-improved Browns (3-1) team coming in having won its past three. While there was optimism among many fans after New York's close losses to Green Bay and Detroit, there has been lots of frustration since the team was dominated in Chicago — and a sense of urgency to get things righted before the losses pile further.

“Yeah, I mean, that definitely plays into it and I'd be lying if I said it didn't,” wide receiver Garrett Wilson said. "The reality of it is we've got an AFC team, a team that we've played, I feel like every year since I've been in the league, so we kind of know the stakes with this team. The part of the schedule we're going into, you can gain a lot of ground, you can lose a lot. Just, no mistakes.

“Three-game losing streak, no one wants to endure that, but that's where we're at right now. And it definitely kicks up the human aspect of all of us, yeah, we've got to get on the board now.”

If it were up to Eli Manning, he'd want his nephew to join him in New Jersey — but as a member of the Jets.

Manning, a two-time Super Bowl winner with the Giants, said during an appearance on Barstool’s “Pardon My Take” podcast that he'd have a preference for where Texas star quarterback Arch Manning should land if he enters the draft next April.

“For purely selfish reasons, I wouldn’t mind if he went to the Jets, just because I live right there, I could go to games, I could have dinner with him during the week a little bit," Eli Manning said. “I think it’d be great for him to have some family nearby, so I wouldn’t mind him going to the Jets, being up in New York.”

Manning added that his nephew — son of brother Cooper — “could help” the Jets.

New York is expected to consider a quarterback with one of its three first-round selections, and Manning is a top prospect. The Giants, Eli's team his whole career, already has Jaxson Dart and hope he's their franchise quarterback.

The Jets shuffled their defensive line with edge rusher Braiden McGregor placed on injured reserve with a pectoral injury that'll likely sideline him the rest of the season.

Fellow pass rusher Nate Lynn was signed to the active roster to take McGregor's spot. Lynn was a standout during the preseason for the Jets, for whom he had three sacks in two games after being signed Aug. 18. He was among New York's final cuts and was re-signed to the practice squad on Aug. 31.

New York also signed edge rusher Nathan Voorhis, who was with the Jets in training camp, to the practice squad.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Detroit Lions' Trevor Nowaske stops New York Jets' Breece Hall during the second half of an NFL football game in Detroit, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Rey Del Rio)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas court on Wednesday refused to halt the execution of a man who fatally shot a convenience store clerk after his attorneys cited the failed lethal injection of Christa Pike in Tennessee.

The execution was scheduled to take place later Wednesday in Texas and would be the first in the U.S. since Pike survived the execution attempt last week.

Because Texas planned to inject the same drug used in Pike's attempted execution — pentobarbital — attorneys for 46-year-old Jamaal Howard argued to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that the drug poses similar risks. They also raised concerns about the quality of the state's execution drugs.

The court denied the stay request without elaboration.

Pike's lawyers are seeking more information about what went wrong after the 50-year-old woman survived two doses of pentobarbital on Sept. 30. She was unconscious for several days at a hospital but was awake and speaking by Tuesday.

“Texas should not be eager to follow in Tennessee’s footsteps; a stay would keep that from happening,” Howard's attorneys argued in their filing.

Texas has executed six people so far this year, with two more lethal injections scheduled after Howard. He would become the 30th person executed nationwide in 2026.

On Wednesday, Howard was described as “chatty” during the 45-mile (70-kilometer) drive from the death row prison to the Huntsville Unit where executions are carried out, said Amanda Hernandez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

“He made small talk with the officers through the whole trip,” she said.

Once inside the Huntsville prison, he was taken to a small holding cell near the death chamber and remained talkative.

“He was asking questions and was very engaged in the process,” Hernandez said.

Howard was convicted of capital murder in the 2000 killing of Vickie Swartout, 42, who was shot once in the chest during a store robbery. Evidence presented at the trial included the store’s surveillance video that showed Howard shooting Swartout.

Howard, who was 20 at the time, took $114 and a carton of cigarettes from the store in the small, rural town of Silsbee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Houston, according to court records.

His attorneys have argued that Howard is intellectually disabled and his execution should be halted. The state said that he has not presented evidence showing he meets the requirements for a claim of intellectual disability.

He has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution.

In n2002, the Supreme Court had barred the execution of intellectually disabled people. But it has given states some discretion in determining intellectual disability.

The motion filed early Wednesday in the Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas said Howard's attorneys had filed requests for information about the lethal dose of pentobarbital that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice planned to use.

The attorneys said the department asked for a state attorney general opinion about whether it must disclose that information.

The Texas attorney general opinion is not expected to be returned until after Wednesday, meaning Howard can't litigate whatever decision the state might make on releasing that information, they argued.

Texas officials did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday morning.

Florida has carried out 16 executions so far this year, the most of any state. Most states that allow executions use lethal injection as their primary method.

Tennessee's Republican Gov. Bill Lee has halted the one remaining execution for the rest of the year.

Stengle reported from Fort Worth, Texas.

This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Jamaal Howard on Oct. 28, 2022. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows Jamaal Howard on Oct. 28, 2022. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)